Hello and welcome to News Hour live from the BBC World Service in London.

I'm Rebecca Kersby.

The sandy coastal area of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza has been designated as a humanitarian zone

for displaced Palestinians since shortly after the conflict began last year.

Last night, the Israeli military targeted what they said was a Hamas command

center in the area with an air strike.

Eyewitnesses report seeing massive explosions and now there's a huge crater about the size of a small football pitch and

several meters deep. The Hamas-run health authority says at least 40 people have been

killed and another 60 or so injured. The Israeli authorities dispute have been

digging in the

but throughout today local rescue teams have been digging in the sand

trying to find people they say are still buried who disappeared with the explosions.

This man works for civil defence and was in al-Mawasi at the time of the strikes.

About an hour ago we heard the sounds of very violent bombing without prior warning. Due to the intensity of the airstrikes, we ran away in search of safe places to take shelter in. The bombing was so

violent that the missile made a hole 15 meters deep in the ground. The bodies of

the martyrs are scattered everywhere and we're having to pull people out with our bare hands.

Well earlier I got through to Suhas Shahat who's a pharmacist at the nearby NASA hospital

where many of the wounded were taken. It is a rather chaotic scene so the sound

quality isn't great, but she told me she saw the explosion overnight.

As I was close to the place, I see the pump, more than five pumps, they travel over me to the

target place. The town is very long. All the area become lighted because of the pumping fire.

I was asleep and my children, we all get very terrified because of the sound.

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